Future is now for Flames’ emerging blueliner Brodie

Youngster logging big minutes with Bouwmeester out the door

Calgary Flames defenceman T.J. Brodie tries to move the puck with Canucks Zack Kassian on his heels during Saturday’s game in Vancouver.

Photograph by: Herald files/Getty Images
, Getty Images

At age 22, a large number of T.J. Brodie’s high school classmates are on the verge of graduating from university with a fancy piece of paper to show for four years of study.

Understandably, the smooth-skating rearguard feels like he is attending an institution for higher learning — albeit of a different kind — this season with the Calgary Flames.

Call it a crash course in the life of a top-four defenceman in the National Hockey League.

“It’s nice,” Brodie says of the massive increase in workload. “The more you play, if you make a bad pass or something, it’s a lot easier to forget about it if you go out the next shift. You don’t have to sit on the bench and think about it, and then the next time you’re out there, you’re a little bit nervous, because you don’t want to do it again.

“I think playing a little bit more, it’s definitely a little easier.”

Playing a little more? In the absence of the departed Jay Bouwmeester and the distracted (new papa) Mark Giordano on Friday night, Brodie logged a career-high 26:27 against the San Jose Sharks.

Less than 24 hours later — with Giordano back at his command post — Brodie patrolled the blueline for 22:03 on Hockey Night in Canada against the Vancouver Canucks.

“During the Vancouver game, it obviously starts to catch up to you,” he concedes. “But in the third period, I felt pretty good. I think I got my second wind.”

He shrugs.

“Sometimes, you’re sore. Sometimes, you’re whole body is tight. It’s just part of the game.”

The game has changed since the trade deadline in Calgary with the Bouwmeester and Jarome Iginla trades signalling the official start of a long awaited rebuild.

All eyes are on the kids to see where they might fit on the long-term organizational depth chart.

“Remember right from the start of the year. I mentioned T.J. Brodie’s name,” head coach Bob Hartley says. “He’s our future on the blueline.”

“He’s a great young man,” Hartley says. “He wants to learn. He listens, and he applies himself.”

The road to the NHL initially proved rocky for Brodie, a fourth-round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Fresh out of junior, the Barrie Colts product cracked Calgary’s opening-day in 2010-11.

After just three games with the big club, the Flames dispatched him to the minors where, according to general manager Jay Feaster, he failed to give the American Hockey League the respect that it deserved.

No one is accusing the kid of anything of the sort these days as the six-foot-one, 182-pounder moulds his game daily under the watchful eye of fans desperate for any reason to believe in the future of this franchise.

In 37 games, Brodie has one goal and seven assists for eight points.

“I think you’re starting to see he’s getting more comfortable,” says fellow defenceman Chris Butler. “He’s starting to contribute in a lot of different areas, and he’s a world-class skater. If you look at him in the defensive zone, he’s very good positionally. He does a great job finding loose pucks and transitioning the puck and skating out of our zone. “He’s a guy that I think could potentially log a lot of minutes for a long time.”

Brodie won’t scare anyone with his size or raw toughness. Skating and skill are his calling cards.

“He’s a guy who is able to ruin other team’s forechecks just by swiftly moving the puck and getting his feet moving to avoid the pressure,” says centre Michael Cammalleri. “Those are the key things in today’s game, and he seems to have really grasped that.”

Brodie might not be Seth Jones (projected to go first overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft), but the Chatham, Ont. native gives the Flames at least one legitimate up-and-comer on the back end.

“You can’t teach how well he skates,” Butler says. “And he sees very durable. He’s got some great offensive instincts.

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